Two Sides
by GlompGal
Summary: Deidara has always known Tobi to be strange; but, what is he to think when he hears Tobi talking to himself? TobiDei / Madadei
1. Chapter 1

**Two Sides**

Written RP by TheNaughtyOne and mrsketchy

Ink droplets flickered across the scroll with an unexpected crack of wood, Madara sat there with a slightly annoyed twitch evident in his dark eyes. The calligraphy brush was shattered and fragments of bamboo lightly scattered onto the desk. The room was empty besides the Uchiha in the middle of the study, trying to preserve his sanity through written fantasies that grew across long blank scrolls with neatly curved kanji that was unique to the sharingan's ability to copy another's handwriting.

Madara was practicing the art of forging suicide letters, the kind one would place as faulty evidence near a victim's deathbed. Sweeping his hand and forearm across the desk the bamboo fragments fell into a pile on the floor, he'd clean it up later. He would procrastinate, he always procrastinated. There was no need for haste when you were a leader of a subtle organization, with some exceptions. Deidara, for one, was the flashiest, most naive shinobi in existence. It pained him to send the youngster out on missions, each one endangering the Akatsuki's secrets. With each passing moment the rock Nin was getting closer to his destination, his former village. Abandoned home; the stone village. It seemed bittersweet that he was the one chosen for the task, his upfront excuse was that Deidara had known the land better than most; his true reason was to test the Nin's loyalty to the organization. Standing up wearily the Uchiha left his private study, the smeared calligraphy now unreadable as ink dripped slowly across the paper on the slanting desk, something else he had procrastinated to fix; but first he had other matters to attend to.

Deidara approached the gates of his former village, noticing two guards at the front, slowly coming into better focus. Barely blinking, Deidara unzipped his clay bag and started to form his small works of art. He heard shouts from ahead, signaling they finally noticed him and decided he was a threat. "Probably this cloak" Deidara mumbled to himself, picking at the seam of his sleeve. As he got closer, one of the guards threw a kunai at him, which was easily dodged from that distance. He heard them shout again, telling him to stop in his tracks. He did, and the rock Nin's approached him. Another, from around the other side of the wall joined in. one of the Nin's noticed his forehead protector.

"You're a missing nin... from this village!" he shouted, grinding his teeth as he spoke.

Deidara sighed then brought his hands up to clap, causing the guards to flinch at his movement.

"Congratulations, you figured me out." Deidara spoke lazily. The guards became angered, and approached even closer to him, each bringing out their weapons. Three against one, Deidara breathed in as his eyes moved down to his hands.

This was going to be too easy.

Gloved fingers scratching at his short hair, Madara slipped over the acrylic orange mask, physical and persona changes were noticeable as soon Tobi walked down the hallway, one of many that formed the almost labyrinth-like tunnels that were underneath the main area of the Akatsuki's hideout. Another member passed, Hidan who bothered to shoulder

Aside Tobi. Unfazed by the hateful gesture Tobi apologized, remembering to add a nervous stutter to each word. He wasn't Madara, he wasn't anyone of importance now, and Hidan along with other select members were never going to let him forget it. Akatsuki was naïve (another point that he had procrastinated to bring up on conversations), their sight blinded with their power and the fear that was all

Too obvious when they occasionally surfaced at night to bring living nightmares to the villages that hosted jinchuuriki. He didn't give a reason to the supposable 'higher-ranked' members for his leaving; they didn't care. Uchiha Madara strolled away from the riverside hideout, following the trail that Deidara had left not a day earlier.

Deidara stepped over one of the guards' body. He didn't look back to see the spilled blood, the mangled bodies, or the contorted faces. He didn't look back at anything. Only forward. In a way Deidara was relieved that he was to do this assassination in this village he used to call home. It could help him become stronger, more immune to feelings. After all, that's what mere shinobi were-Tool. And that's exactly what he was. A tool for Akatsuki.

The overwhelming stench of fresh blood stung Tobi's nostrils, causing his breath to quicken as adrenalin coursed through his body. None of this was obvious to any onlookers, only the slightest flinch of a hand at his side. Yes indeed, Deidara was too flashy, he didn't need confirmation as the smouldering of burnt flesh and hair was rancid and would cause the village alarm. He sighed and decided to walk a less direct route to the gate; unlike SOME ninja he had common sense.

Deidara watched from a rooftop of a small building as shinobi yelled orders to each other to spread out and find the intruder. Deidara smirked to himself. "The distraction worked, hm?" Deidara nodded, before shuffling away from the edge of the roof to make his way to the designated area him victim was supposedly living. He was a rich man, from what Deidara had been informed, and had helped Akatsuki at one point, but did something to betray them. Maybe gave away a hiding spot, or the identity of someone. Whatever it was, it was Deidara job to clean up the mess. He jumped from building to building, making sure not to be seen and masking his chakra as best as he could, hand at the ready to form more of his wonderful creatures.

Releasing the transformation technique, the rock village Nin uniform dissipated from Tobi's body in a stream of smoke. Gate guards were all too sloppy these days, mainly because they never suspected S ranked criminals to come through the front door. Besides they were already busy trying to find the suspected murderer to not notice one of their own walking towards the village. With a quick movement of a hand, while a shop owned was busy packing away their wares, Tobi swiped a sweet from the rack. Taking no subtlety while walking away, He removed his acrylic orange mask from his face, breathing in the cold night air, free from the stuffiness from his mask. In the dark no one could identify him and he already guessed Deidara would be far within the village already, while the Uchiha was among the outskirts. He slowly ate the sweet, strolling down the street past stray animals. Wasting time before he had to turn in for the night.  
Finally, Deidara found his target-well, the house he lived in. Deidara stared in slight awe of the size. He took that back, this wasn't a house, it was practically a palace.  
"Hmmm... This was going to be tricky, 'cause if this guy was that rich, there would definitely be some trouble laying in there waiting. If word hadn't gotten around the guy inside might have already left to another safe-place. Deidara sighed and began to approach the property when he froze in mid step. A familiar chakra was getting closer. But, the more Deidara tried to figure out who it was, the more confused he became. It had a hint of something else to it, frustrating him as he backed up from the property and jumped to another rooftop in search of this source. If anything, it could be new information on the rich guy's whereabouts, or someone to back him up. It could be a completely new person for all he knew. Deidara stopped again. He took in a large breath and prayed that it wasn't who he thought it was.  
Tobi rolled the melting lolly in his mouth, savouring the taste. The rock candy unique to these hotter parts of the land were long lasting and good to trade, but strangely enough, were hard to find anywhere else. He stood in the shadow of the street and looked at the kage's towering building; -I wonder how many tax raises that took to build- he thought in a dull tone as lanterns illuminated the area around it. Deidara would be somewhere around there, he knew. Instinctively Tobi raised his line of sight, expecting a sky born Deidara to be blasting his way in as per usual. Strangely enough, there was nothing there; frowning slightly, Tobi replaced his mask, slipping it over his spiked hair with an automatic hand movement. Deidara couldn't find him, just yet anyway. The concept of been watched highly alters one's actions significantly; and this would change the outcome of the test completely.  
Deidara got closer and closer to the source, masking his chakra more so than he had ever done before. If it was so familiar, why was he so cautious? Deidara flicked his hair out of his face and felt beads of sweat flick away as well. Using his eyes scope, Deidara edged over the roof top and peered below. Deidara's jaw tightened and his grip clenched the roof edge before he moved back again. Yup, it was him alright. Deidara closed his eyes in frustration. It was Tobi. Godforsaken Tobi was here.  
A sudden shock went of Tobi's spine and instinctively several kunai found themselves plunged deeply into the roof shingle above him. After a second he realised what had happened, damnmit! He had jeopardized the original intent of the mission! He mentally swore again and quickly disappeared in a puff of smoke only to appear some hundred metres away. His hand smacked his own forehead, he was careless.  
Deidara's eyes opened just in time to see, and dodge kunai that had suddenly found their way to them. Deidara skidded to the side, one kunai barely cutting his left cheek, but another had found its way into the side of his leg. Deidara swore and gripped the handle of the protruding weapon in his thigh.  
"Shit!" Deidara grimaced. He got too careless. With a quick thrust he pulled out the kunai and inspected the damage. Nothing extremely dangerous, but damn it hurt. Deidara lay on his back and glanced over the side, swearing yet again how Tobi had disappeared.  
"Cant do anything, can you Tobi? Just run and hide as always hmm?" Deidara smirked; guess he would have to this from the skies now that his leg was in a mess. This whole town was in for it now.  
"So much for practicing my stealth hmm?" Deidara winced as he sat up, and brought forth a bird shape he already had formed, casting a shock of chakra to enlarge the bird. Jumping on top, Deidara began to move the beast towards the mansion again.  
"If he's hiding somewhere else, then I guess this town will have to taste my art, hmm?"  
Twisting his mask to the side, Tobi spat out the lolly sourly, what one tasted sweet now was tasteless as sand, fair enough because the air was musty with dust and stale wind. He sighed, nothing he could do at the moment except stand by and watch. Where would he go that he wouldn't get caught or exploded? Tobi thought as a white blur flew upwards, Deidara was about to wreak havoc.  
Deidara smirked as he formed new little bombs in his palms, sending chakra through his arms and into the clay. This was going to be fun, he smiled. Finally over the tall palace, he released several small birds, and watched them as the scattered over the premises. Raising his hands to form the seal, he prepared to begin the show.  
Tobi leant back, his arms crossed as he stood on a large boulder up one of the Side Mountains that surrounded the area. He exhaled; satisfied that Deidara had shown no physical hesitation towards his goal. That was always a good sign, who knew what the rock Nin was thinking, but then again Akatsuki was about getting things done. And all ninja's were known for their lack of sympathy.  
Waking up suddenly, Deidara almost fell out of the tree he was resting in. Finally gripping the branch and wiping the sleep dust from the corners of his eyes, he blinked lazily as he smelt smoke upon his clothes, and watched a dark haze over the horizon float across the orange sky. It was morning, the day after the now historic attack of the hidden rock, his former village. Deidara looked away from the sky and jumped down from the branch and landed lightly on the ground, before gasping in pain and shock from his leg. He quickly sat and lent against the tree behind him to lessen the strain on his leg, and cringed, biting his lip almost hard enough to draw blood. Damn it hurt. Dammit.  
A sudden movement of orange in front of Deidara's vision startled the rock Nin; "Hullo senpai!" Tobi practically shouted the greeting in his face, though muffled with his mask, it still served to shake the sleepy Nin to an agitated state.  
Deidara rubbed his temples, grinding his teeth.  
"... Hi, Tobi." He spoke flatly. He removed his hands to notice a deepening red form around his wound, seeping into the already darkened pants. He must've reopened the wound when he jumped down. Moving quickly he put his hand over the wound, cringing as he tried to stop the blood flow.  
"Look, Tobi, if you're gonna hang around, make yourself useful. There's some bandages beside my clay bag" Deidara pointed, his clay bag a little to the side of him.  
Tobi pouted, despite the mask covering up his facial expression, "but you're closer senpai. You're just lazy"  
Deidara scowled, and released the wound to grab the bag, since it was on the same side as his already-in-use arm.  
Grunting, Deidara struggled to do it with one arm again as his hand clasped the wound and undid the clips for the bandage.  
"You were careless" Tobi Poked Deidara's nose, he was still hanging upside down from a branch. A feeling of contempt filled Tobi as Deidara's face twitched slightly with contained anger. Pissing him off was Tobi's favourite sport.  
Deidara had enough. Quickly shaking his head to remove the finger invading his space, he finished the bandage with a neat knot, not caring about the spots of red already appearing upon the starch white. Deidara heaved himself up, still leaning against the tree, and struggled to push Tobi's legs away before him.  
"I don't need this right now, hn." Deidara stepped forward, only to feel his legs fail him as they moved.  
Tobi, who was still hanging upside down from a high branch carelessly caught the back of Deidara's cloak and held him an inch off the ground. Deidara dangled like a kitten held from the scuff of its neck. Tobi cocked his head to the side "you were careless" he repeated with a slight frown from under the mask.  
Deidara hung there for a moment, going over what was going on, before flailing his arms in an attempt to get away from Tobi's grip."Put me down you idiot!!!" still struggling to grab Tobi himself.  
Maintaining his grip on the back of Deidara's cloak, Tobi pulled him up a little higher, until he could see Deidara's face. He hung there, fuming as Tobi repeated; "you were careless. Why was that senpai?" he said with an almost distaste of the title.  
Deidara stopped struggling at the iciness of Tobi's tone. The sudden change of power was defiantly noticeable and Deidara didn't like it. Deidara's teeth clenched as he managed to stare right back into Tobi's small eye hole, which he still couldn't see through, even at this closeness.  
"Put me down, Tobi" He impersonated the way Tobi's voice had called Deidara's, and continued to glare into the expressionless mask.  
The eeriness snapped within Tobi and he chirpily replied with an almost instant swing, "haaai~ senpaaai~" he laughed and with a loud THUD Deidara landed heavily on his rump. Tobi was laughing in his usual childlike fashion.  
Deidara yelped in pain at the ache in his thigh, as well as his ass, and gave Tobi the meanest look he could muster in his position.  
Finally, a while later, Deidara was at his feet, as was Tobi on the ground. Deidara painfully looked up at the sky, processing how far it would be to get in time to an inn by nightfall.  
Tobi skipped a step then whirled around, "you coming senpaaaai~?" he had the habit of stretching the 'a' sound to the point that it gave Deidara a headache.  
Deidara breathe became shallow as he tried with all his might to not throw the clay he was currently holding at Tobi. No, he needed to use this clay to get around before he could restock. With a flick of the wrist, and a small utter, two giant birds formed before the two Nin's. He was not in the condition to walk, and hearing the wind against his ears instead of a inconsistent babbling from a person in particular.  
With great effort, Deidara clambered onto the birds back, and started to take off.  
"You coming Tobi?" Deidara growled, hating how his day had already been shattered by a bad start.  
Tobi jumped atop the large bird, sitting on its back as though it was a backing-bull "giddy-up!" Tobi mocked a riders hand gesture of waving a hat wildly with his scarf; though the end of the fabric got caught on the creature's stiff tail 'feathers' and he was yanked backward.  
Deidara rolled his eyes before cringing suddenly from a sudden spurt of pain from his leg and doubled over, gripping soft clay underfoot. Sweating hard, Deidara gritted his teeth yet again and faced forward, trying hard not to lose control in the birds. Finally he regained his control and gained altitude and headed east, using the suns position considering it was still morning. Hours would pass until they finally reached a small town with a reasonable inn to stay in.  
Tobi untangled his scarf from the bird's bodice and sat upright; completely oblivious he tried to get Deidara's attention but failed. His partner was obviously not in a mood to talk, or even interact with anyone else. With the slightest of gestures by Deidara the birds angled downwards, "WAAAAaaaahhh~~" Tobi's yell faded as he was muffled with the many leaves by one of the trees nearby.

The sun had only just begun to set by the time Deidara was on a bed, in his own room of a shabby inn. He needed rest, the tongues of his hand-mouths hanging out, exhausted. Deidara strained his entire body just to find a more comfortable position facing the wall. Tobi's room was right next to him, and strangely enough, the walls were thin enough for Deidara to hear a small murmur coming from that room.  
Deidara slowly sat up and quietly pressed his ear against the wall.  
Strange, Deidara thought. Was Tobi talking to someone? Deidara shuffled to get a better position and pressed his head against the wall. And, although his heart was beating so fast, his body was exaughsted. His chakra sources extremely low aswell. To anyone that was paying attention to that, it would seem that Deidara was sleeping.  
The voices drifted from the wall, muffled by the boards that separated the rooms. Deidara caught a few words "it's already been jeopardized by your insolence!" 'I... I know.." Tobi's voice replied. "And now because of it y--" the words were unheard as the sound of pacing around the room drowned them out. A few murmurs of deep thought were caught then "don't fail me again" was growled firmly. "Ha..." a pause."Hai senpai" Tobi whimpered, the sound of someone letting themselves fall back into a chair was all that replied.  
Deidara's eyes widened at that last word. Suddenly he was more awake than before and pushed from the wall to get up. Slowly he made his was out of his room, shivering at the coldness of having no cloak and limping slightly from his leg. Making his way to the door, Deidara was about to knock lightly, but decided against it and turned to leave. If it was of any great importance, Deidara couldn't handle it at the moment. He needed rest.  
Tobi held his head with his hands, elbows on knees. He felt defeated and drained, yet he didn't want to close his eyes to sleep, he just couldn't. The sound of unbalanced footsteps came from the room next door, Deidara was awake? Tobi quietly stood up and tiptoed to the door, opening it a tiny crack just for his eye to peer through. Deidara was on the bed, seemingly asleep. He blinked sadly, and looked away. Sometimes he felt he needed Deidara beyond professional needs. Slowly closing the door again he turned away. Why was he so weak?  
Deidara slowly opened his eyes and glanced towards the door of his room. It was closed, yet he could've sworn he heard it opening. Deidara sighed, and returned to his rest.  
All news of the small scale man-slaughter hadn't reached the inn yet, everyday life at the building started early in the morning, before the bird sounded their waking cries. By the time the sun was in the sky, the blonde rock Nin stirred from his uncomfortable sleep.  
Deidara strained his eyes at the light filtering through the window. He'd forgotten to close the curtains, dammit. Deidara pulled himself out of bed. Another day, he thought wearily to himself as he dragged himself to a small table and chair in the corner of the room. Removing his pants and grabbing another set of bandages he painfully began to redress the swollen wound. Deidara sat in the chair for awhile, staring at his pants lying in a heap on the floor next to him.  
"I need new pants...hmm." he thought, slightly annoyed  
Tobi hadn't moved from the chair against the wall of his room, the slight noises from the room next to his signalled Deidara was awake and like a one-legged kick dancer he gracefully hobbled around the screeching floorboards. His head slipped from his cupped hands and with a surprised snort Tobi nearly toppled off of the chair with the sudden shift of balance. He stood up, taking note to briefly open his mask so he could wipe the droll from his chin. Tobi yawned, stretching far enough to hear his elbows and knees pop like an arthritic old man. He smiled at the thought and walked to the door, opening it slightly. "Hullooooo Deidaraaa senpaaaai~" he greeted slowly with another yawn.  
Deidara gave a quick glance at Tobi before gazing back to his crumpled clothes on the floor.  
The floor. Oh no... Deidara blushed hugely, before turning away. He was just wearing boxers, yet why was he acting like this! Deidara felt Tobi's stare bore into his back, and turned to face him again, returning the greeting quietly and pushing himself up for the table to limp towards his pants.  
"Any news from the Leader?" Deidara questioned, facing away as he put on his pants. He eyed Tobi, expecting a reply to confirm his suspicions. If Tobi hadn't any news, then who was he talking to last night?  
Tobi ruffled his hair to its usual spiky self "huh? nah" he said without thinking and walked over to the door, "I'll go get breakfast...or lunch..." he turned back to Deidara "what time is it senpaaaai?" he asked cheerfully, he had repeated this question remorselessly during the flight to test Deidara's patience and the urge was too hard to resist to start of the day with a good, grumpy buddy.  
"How the hell should I know, Tobi??" Deidara exasperated before collapsing back onto his bed. "Bring me something if you find anything good..." Deidara sighed as his eyes slowly closed. Tobi avoided the question. Ah, geez. Man this guy was annoying, Deidara thought as he heard the door click shut.  
Tobi edged past several people who war in the hallways of the inn, bustling about with the late morning activity that raised a chorus of cluttering of brooms to clinking of china. Making no eye contact with the Akatsuki member, out of habit or fear, Tobi soon found himself outside the small, if somewhat shabby inn. Turning to the left, markets were open next door to travellers who wished to trade for goods. This time Tobi actually paid for the items of purchase, stopping briefly at the cat calls of a sneaky old woman who was dealing jewellery. She harassed him to buy something and Tobi, not wanting to start an argument to draw even more attention, bought a silver sterling watch, unsure if it was made for females as a present or just too waste precious metals. Quickly walking from the markets with a small paper bag of items he bought, Tobi returned to the room where Deidara lay on the bed lazily, not wanting to strain his leg. Tobi threw a cup of instant noodles (lacking the hot water) on Deidara's bed as well as some fresh bandages and the watch he bought. Briefly tossing an apple with his hand, not daring to eat it in front of his comrade but to make an entrance.  
Deidara's eyes cracked open and watch Tobi turn away to eat, before he sat up and grabbed the box of noodles. Looking around, Deidara realised there was no jug for boiling water, and felt his right eye twitch in frustration.  
"I'm going for a walk...or a fly or something" Deidara grumbled, limping past Tobi with a face of thunder. He could get his own food. Maybe some eggs wrapped in seaweed were around here... Deidara cringed at the pain in leg but dealt with it. Having two arms ripped off was pain, this was nothing. As Deidara closed the door behind him, an idea dawned on him. Before slightly walking away, he masked his chakra slightly like it was getting faint. Then, slowly creeping back to the door, once again masking the chakra as far as he could muster, he lent against the door, his ear pressed hard against it. If Tobi was going to lie to him, then Deidara was going to have to find out what was going on the hard way.  
Tobi took the apple away from his mouth, he wasn't hungry, he only just realised. Had he used the breakfast excuse to get away from Deidara? "Why?" Tobi looked down at the apple in his hands, rolling it slightly between his palms. Why did Deidara intimidate him? "Because you're weak" he growled at himself, a flinch of pain struck his temple and Tobi gasped, dropping the apple to the floor not noticing it roll to the door. Tobi clasped his head as the pain had caught him off guard, "wh...What's happening?" he winced.  
Deidara's eyes widened at what sounded like trouble going on inside. But, then again, it sounded as if Tobi was talking to himself... Deidara snapped out of his thought s as he heard a large thud. Deidara decided it was enough for him to re-enter. Opening the door in a hurry, Deidara's eyes blinked before he realised at what seemed Tobi was having a small fit on the floor. Deidara darted towards him, rolling Tobi off his stomach and onto his back.  
"Tobi?! Tobi! Snap out of it!" Deidara gasped, suddenly worried at his partners condition. Never before had Deidara been faced with something like this. Suddenly, Tobi Stopped moving, his head relaxing against Deidara's hip. Shit, Deidara thought in a hurry. What if he couldn't breathe or something? Deidara's shaking hands moved towards Tobi's mask, only to startle as a hand snapped up and grabbed his wrist in a vice-like grip. Deidara Gasped in pain as he heard a small crack.  
Madara's blood red eye glared at Deidara, a dangerous aura venting from the small hole of the mask. The lance of fear from Deidara made him unconsciously clench his vice-like grip harder, a dangerously large crunge of protest from the bone echoed into the silence.  
Deidara tensed his shoulders as the pain in his wrist increased, and struggled to pull back as he could feel the grip tightening once more.  
"T-Tobi?" Deidara gasped in pain and confusion at what was going on. Deidara froze as Tobi slowly rose, the grip never lessening as Tobi continued to stare at him, the room almost suffocating in a horrible feeling. Deidara yanked back again, only to feel a blow to the chest, sending him skidding across the floor and into the door behind him. Deidara choked before glancing up and quickly reaching for the doorknob slightly above him.  
Madara slammed the flat of his hand against the door, holding it shut, his gaze never left Deidara's fearful blue eyes. With one swift movement, he grabbed Deidara's injured wrist and yanked the blonde haired Nin forward with a painful jolt so that agony exploded though Deidara's limbs. Kneeling down slightly, Madara put his head next to the helpless Akatsuki's. With a smirk he spoke,  
"you were careless"

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Deidara leapt up from his damp pillow, sweat pouring down his face, and shirtless body. Gasping for breath, He looked around the blackness of the room he was sleeping in wildly, almost thinking someone was there.  
Someone...  
Deidara took in another gulp of air and tried to calm himself from his restless sleep. It was the eleventh night in a row he'd been waking up like this. A cycle that never seemed to ease him from the world. He was afraid to sleep. Afraid to wake up to something. Deidara closed his eyes and felt his body tremble from the chill seeping down his spine, not bringing any comfort to his body sticky with sweat. He held his breathe for a moment, and listened to his heartbeat finally settling down. Slowly lying down again, Deidara flipped over the warm pillow and lay on the cooler side; his breathe hitting his face as it bounced off the cool material. Shuddering slightly, Deidara lay there in the dark and prayed it would all end soon.  
He couldn't take this torture anymore. It had been over two weeks, yet everyday made it feel like an eternity. Spending any more time with...with...'him'; Deidara didn't know what to do anymore. Slowly, Deidara felt his body become slightly more relaxed, and waited patiently for the darkness to take him away. It only came once a night, it was over.  
For now.  
Deidara had finally settled down, the turning had never stopped nor his constant twitching or gasps ceased. Is this all my fault? Madara thought to himself, to bring an s ranked criminal, an Akatsuki no less, down to the mentality of a small wounded child crying for the embrace of a mother that simply wasn't there. Had he done this?  
Light filtered onto Deidara's face through the curtains gap, causing his eyes to squeeze tighter in annoyance. Realising it was finally morning, Deidara pushed himself off the futon and stood wearily, blinking at the suns rays showing dust dancing around him. Coming to his senses, Footsteps were heard approaching his small room. Deidara's head snapped to the direction of the sound, his eyes thinning and palms already beginning to sweat.

Madara flexed his fingers as the cold metal handle touched lightly against his bare hands. In this weather there was no need for excess warm clothing, and he doubted dusting for fingerprints would do anyone any good. Despite the humidity, the trade mark mask was still tightly pulled over across the Uchiha's face, the man's hot breath causing sweat to develop on his face and a hollowed husking breath whistled hauntingly through the small opening that gave the ninja just enough room to see the outside world. Madara's hand twitched, he knew what was on the other side of the door, he knew the face that Deidara now woke with, denied of any comfort that one would usually seek from the warm folds of fabric that was his bed. With the protest of squeaking metal, the door edged open and Madara pushed the old door open, the bottom of the wood screeching across the floor with the least of subtlety that gave the ninja their trade mark. Smoothly, the Uchiha walked into the room, with an awkward step that became more pronounced in the man's gait. Madara walked past Deidara, ignoring the face of barely concealable horror, stepping over the mess of blankets strewn across the floor from a restless sleep; closing the door to his room behind quietly.  
Deidara released his held breath with a heave, his trembling hands finding themselves again as Deidara dared not to look behind him again. It was a new day, and He took in another breath and walked towards the door leading outside the small inn they were resting in-even though it was not rest Deidara was receiving.  
Making his way down the stair and past the reception, Deidara blinked at the morning light, much brighter as to what it was in his small room. It was market day, and he watched as people ambled about making their ways to their destination-faces shrouded with unawareness off who was near them. It was strange for Deidara to go unnoticed; being an S-ranked criminal made it hard. And, even though it was a different feeling, it was all Deidara was wanting right now.  
The feeling of going unnoticed... and unharmed.

Rustle of blankets, soft...delicate footfalls on the floor, scraping of an old door and the click of metal. These sounds were all too familiar for the acute hearing of the Akatsuki member; Deidara had just left the room, it had been the routine for the last week or so. Madara kneeled on the dusty floor; stupid maid was too scared to enter their room, though he paid good money for the service. He blinked, once, twice, for some reason he felt... incomplete. Incomplete when he was alone, when the presence was all but gone. He thumbed the mask off over his nose and didn't notice the orange wood clatter to the floor, rolling in a waft of particles of dust. Madara sat there, and waited until that door would open again, and those delicate footsteps carried the one he desired.

Wandering around the bustling stalls, Deidara ignored the people pushing to and fro, their shoulders bumping into each other, few mentioning a small apology. He wandered down the narrow street, and smelt foods and spices waft around him. He was in the moment-a place he enjoyed to be, and belonged in. Deidara scavenged some spare change from his pocket and scuffled over to a small stall selling hot foods. Buying a snack, He munched on it as he tried to find time to avoid heading back to the inn. He would have to sometime. He always did. Deidara remembered to when he decided he couldn't take it anymore and tried leaving the whole area he and... Tobi were staying at whilst Tobi was out. The plan failed, and not only did Deidara majorly regret the decision, but he was reported to Pein, who was told Deidara was trying to escape Akatsuki for his own accords. Pein let him off, although Tobi was told to keep a closer eye on him. Trying to run away from his problem only made it worse. Deidara stopped in his tracks and dropped the half eaten snack to the ground. He was going to have to deal with this himself. Deidara closed his eyes tightly before heading back to the inn, slowly. As the building came into sight, Deidara felt the coldness off the clay within the pouch on his side.

Tobi exhaled and let himself fall forward, forehead touching the ground in front of him. He sat there huddled over, he felt the craving calling from inside, he had hurt Deidara that night, but Deidara had hurt him so much more. Tobi was dying of thirst on the edge of the ocean, it was there within his grasp but he couldn't have it. Deidara mocked Tobi day in and day out for several months. Tobi had...no, Madara had suffered from the naivety that riddled Deidara like worms of a rotting corpse.  
Creaking.  
The familiar sound caused Madara's eyes to snap open, the ghost of a smile twitching on his lips.  
Deidara paused at the door of the inn room, listening intently inside before even reaching for the door handle. Silence. Deidara squeezed his eyes shut again. He hated silence-especially in this kind of situation. He couldn't know if Tobi had gone out to look for him, or if he was still inside, waiting silently for his return. Deidara gulped, and moved his hand towards the door knob. He had to do this, he had to! But, as Deidara's fingertips brushed the doorknob, his body shuddered in agony, just knowing what was to happen if he opened that door. Deidara pulled his hand back suddenly, recoiling like it was burning hot. Maybe he could wait a little longer... Go for a walk through the park, or get supplies... Anything. Deidara's jaw tightened as he turned from the door to leave again. He couldn't deal with this.  
Madara waited, his body shaking as the intensity in the atmosphere grew unbearable. The silence was agonisingly long, had he imagined it? A shiver creeped down his spine. He never blinked during the few minutes of uncertainty as a visitor hesitated at the door, his eyes wide in a psychotic extract within the depths of his mind. Slowly turning his head, the crazed Uchiha stared at the door, his crooked smile twitched within his madness.  
The presence.  
The one he craved.  
Was just outside... that... door.  
Deidara took a step forward, heading away from the door to head back outside, when a feeling came over him. He had felt this feeling before- thick, unfocused chakra, seeping out of the room behind him. Without thinking, Deidara own chakra flared, revealing to anyone that he was indeed outside. Deidara's eyes widened and quickly masked it again. Deidara began to walk forward again to get out of there, quickly.  
The anxiety flooded through Madara, his tense fingers grabbed at the floor, _no, NO!_ His fingernail's tore at the ground. A starving wolf robbed of its meal, no, there was no collar or chain; Madara stood up, he staggered as the floor seemed to pull itself from under his feet. Gripping the doorframe, the edges of his mouth pulled into a hungry grin. He walked unevenly towards the door and grabbed the handle, nearly tearing the door of its hinges in his blinded hunger.  
Deidara almost tripped when he heard the door tear open. His eyes widened as he made his way to turnaround, only to be knocked onto the ground from behind-too fast. Deidara struggled to get up again, only to have a foot rammed into his ribcage and a hand entwine themselves into his long hair making him face up towards his captor. Tears brimmed the corner of his eyes as he realised he made a mistake, and he was going to pay for it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Two Sides**

**Chapter 2**

Madara saw his prey only a few feet in front of him, his greedy hands extended to grab Deidara before he turned around. Then, a strange presence troubled him; the scent of another chakra was on the air. With a blur of motion and the waft of smoke that blocked his vision and choked his lungs, the unemotional eyes hidden behind a white mask highlighted in bloody red. A second anbu had Deidara wrenched upwards by a handful of his hair, his bare neck held at knife-point. A strong blow from an unseen attacker knocked Madara backwards into the room and he slid across the floor, tripping on the untidy bed sheets. They had been caught by surprise. They had been careless.

Deidara paused for a moment, anticipating what had just happened. Mask's... They belonged to anbu. Deidara blinked. Anbu? He couldn't decide whether this was a good thing or a bad thing. Turning his head slightly to watch Tobi be cornered by someone else was indeed satisfying; But Deidara was still in danger. Maybe going with this would be the smartest thing to do at the moment, considering he could most likely escape later. But there was still that small chance that he would never escape. Heck, there was still a major chance he was going to be killed on the spot right now. But no... They would have done that already. Deidara smirked as he watched Tobi's mask less face change into a somewhat surprised expression.  
Where had they come from? Madara's eyes quickly changed from surprised to an unmerciful icy glare, one of the anbu froze, they outnumbered the akatsuki, but that meant nothing, these criminals had taken out thousands of their allies swiftly like they were mere ants. Acting quickly, Madara grabbed the startled ninja's throat, constricting her neck until husking cries grew faint and her body went limp, blood dripping from her blue lips as the Uchiha removed the hidden blade from the woman's jugular. He whirled around, the area was unsuited to support the momentum and weight of scuffling men and women, the wooden stairs groaning loudly in protest.  
Seeing his chance, Madara roughly kicked the corpse-like anbu into the confusion, a devistating crack of old wood sent dust billowing upwards, small debris flying everywhere as the anbu, and Deidara, fell below into darkness.  
Madara stood at the edge of the hole in the floor, alarmed screams from the nearby rooms indicated that the news was out. He looked down, ignoring people running outside calling for help, the hole in the floor receded into darkness, the howls of surprised anbu faded into silence. What was underneath the inn?  
Deidara struggled to raise his head, debris weighing him down. Finally, he shook the wood and dust from his body and coughed as the thick dust circled around him. Hearing noises from all around, and having a minor concussion, Deidara couldn't focus properly. Glancing up and wincing from a twinge in his neck, Deidara saw a flash above him from a dim light source and heard a small thud next to him. Looking back down, Deidara scrunched his nose in disgust at the corpse of an anbu lying next to him. Struggling to stand, He fell back and landed against something. Looking backwards, Deidara's eyes widened at a now masked Tobi, towering above him. Before he could move, a jolt of pain was felt at the back of his neck, and darkness shrouded his vision.

Madara waited impatiently, leaning against the wall of the inn. The gaping hole that had consumed several anbu and his comrade was as silent as ever, not even a call for help sounded from the depths. No one had come inside the inn since the incident; soon ninja were going to be on their way to assist the fallen anbu before he had a chance to retrieve Deidara. He waited, the shadow clone he had sent wordlessly down the abyss had not returned yet, he was exerting his chakra to reach the bottom of...whatever it was down there. The signal from his clone was very faint; he doubted Deidara had survived the fall. Deidara was weak, and if the fall hadn't killed him, he would.

Darkness.  
Everything was dark.  
Deidara's eyes opened, yet he couldn't see anything. Where am I? Deidara moved his arms up to wipe his eyes, but felt nothing. His arms... His arms were gone! Deidara panicked. His arms were gone, and he couldn't even see anything! Wait... something in the distance. Deidara opened his mouth to yell, yet nothing came out more than a hoarse whisper. The thing moved in the distance. It was a flash of orange, a face...no, a mask. Tobi! It was Tobi! Tobi waved, yelling at Deidara to hurry, his oh so familiar goofy voice to tell him to hurry. Deidara smiled. Everything all before was a dream; he was back, safe with tob- An arm came out of the darkness, wrapping itself around Tobi's neck, choking him. Deidara's eyes widened. He couldn't move to help him-he could stop _him_. All he could do was watch as his partner, his friend, slowly fall under the hands of his true enemy.

The lightest, softest touch of fingers brushed Deidara's face, brushing aside the strands of bloodied hair that covered the unconscious ninja's face. "S-senpai... wake up senpai" Tobi's childish voice, choked with worry, whispered to the unconscious ninja. Tobi's hand twitched, his gloved fingers raked across Deidara's face, leaving red scratches across his face. Tobi inhaled slightly, realising what he had done, he had scratched the pretty little face he'd come to enjoy, "senpai?" he repeated, worried. The shadow clone didn't return to Madara who was waiting far above, Tobi wanted to be alive again. He was Tobi.  
A dull pain behind Deidara's eyes forced himself to groan, his lips and throat dry as if he'd been screaming for hours on end. Slowly cracking open his eyelids, Deidara looked up, a soothing feeling washing itself down his face. A hand, stroking his cheek paused, as the originator of the hand knew he was awake. Deidara lifted his own and laid it upon the hand already on his cheek, wanting the feeling to continue. Finally focusing on his surroundings, He looked up and saw an orange mask hovering over him. Deidara gave a quick yell of surprise before shoving Tobi away from him, and stumbled to his feet. He stood, wobbling a little, and reached for his clay pouch. Now was the time to strike back, Deidara thought and gave a crooked smirk as he murmured.  
"Bastard..."  
"Huh?" Tobi tilted his head in question, "Senpai, that's not nice" he said childishly. He sat back onto his knees, hands on his lap, "I've been waiting sooo long for you to wake senpaaaaai" he whined, "I'm tired, let's go hooooome" Tobi yawned. Ignorant of Deidara's evident aggression and unease in his body language.  
Deidara's shoulders slumped slightly, an expression of confusion on his face. It was Tobi, yet it wasn't. Well... It wasn't the Tobi he'd grown to know the last couple of weeks. Realisation dawned upon him. He remembered back to the two sides he was hearing of Tobi's conversation of himself, the two sides of personality. This was the real Tobi he knew. Letting his arm droop down, he didn't even notice the small amount soft liquid drip down his cheeks.  
"Tobi... Tobi, you back" Deidara stared bluntly towards Tobi, wishing with all his might it wasn't another dream that was soon to turn into a nightmare.  
Tobi cocked his head to the side, before seeing the tears dripping down his senpai's cheeks. Had he done something wrong? Tobi tried to remember if he said anything...but a block of darkness stopped him from doing so. Why couldn't he remember anything? Wait... he couldn't have... Oh no... Tobi stepped forward, only to watch as Deidara shrank back from him, his shoulders tense again.  
"Senpai..." Tobi whispered, his hand slowly reaching out towards Deidara, only to pause as a flicker of movement, and an oh so familiar chakra flare on the ground above them. Looking up, the dust had finally settled, and through the darkness of the cavern they had fallen in, red eyes stared back down at him.  
Madara was perched on the edge of the hole, like a living gargoyle. Rage filled him from deep inside, that...that...abomination was ruining everything! He gritted his teeth, fingers digging into the edge of the shattered wood, blood dripping from his fingers.  
Tobi looked up, his eye widened as the few droplets of blood blipped onto his mark, He shuddered as some of the crimson liquid managed to touch his face through the eye hole. Tobi's breathing became haggard, no! He couldn't give in to the other presence. He whirled around back to Deidara, grabbing for his senpai's hand "we have to go, NOW!" he shouted earnestly, reaching for Deidara's hand again; he thought he missed, but the little slither of smoke came from his hand as it went right through Deidara's fingers.  
Tobi gasped and clutched his chest as pain shuddered through his body, he fell to his knees. "S...s-senpa...i" he managed through haggared breaths, "you...have to..r-run" he winced. A shock of fear came from inside, he didn't know what kind of monster was inside him.  
Deidara watched dumbly as the tobi he knew dissipated into smoke. It... it was a clone, Deidara thought slowley, before his mind raced into action at the clones last words. Looking around blindly, the dust's clearance had revealed another hallway, run down, but definatly somewhere to get away from the menace above him. Deidara darted towards it, a hand already reaching down and forming a small bird in his palm. Past the entrance of the hallway, Deidara could already hear much faster footsteps behind him, approaching with haste as they avoided the many objects on the ground that deidara failed to see in the increasing darkness and trip up on every couple of moments. Clenching his teeth, Deidara didnt even turn around to watch his peices of art fly through the air behind him and cause a sound so deafening as it echoed off the narrow to the ground from the blast, Deidara scrambled back up again, and with the dimming light of small flames, he sighed with relief as he saw the space behind him covered with debree, a few stones still falling from the unstable ceiling. Deidara stepped backwards again and didnt waste anytime to keep moving forward-he need to find a way out of this hell hole.

The semi-transparent clone collapsed to it's knees, it's supply of chakra from Madara been severed by the Uchiha. Tobi reached out toward's Deidara, he could barely see the face of his senpai only a few feet infront of him. Invisible tears leaked from his eyes, was this what death was like? Slowly he saw his reaching fingers, then hand and his extended arm dissipate into soft little curls of grey smoke. With a sigh of a breeze the apparation dissapeared, leaving a coldness in the air that was absent a moment before.  
Madara lept into the darkness, his feet landing, spilling dust and lingering smoke with the impact. He lifted his hand off the floor, looking up to the tunnel, his eyes a murderous red.  
The high pitched whistle of air-borne projectiles and whine of quickly moving wings was the only split second warning given to Madara. He ducked and ran forward, the ceiling exploding above, raining stones and other debris down into the tunnel. The earth shook dangerously, causing people above to stagger to keep their balance.  
Like a wolf, the Uchiha stalked forward, ready to corner his prey.

Deidara panted from the ordeal, and from running, and finally stopped in the darkness after a few minutes of running at full speed through the tunnel. Leaning against the cracked wall, Deidara tried to catch his breath before he paused at a small sound in the distance-a small stone skidding across the floor. Deidara's eyes widened.  
He couldnt possible gotten past the debri already?! Deidara stopped breathing completly, and listened for anything else. Slowly sliding down to the floor, deidara pressed himslef against the wall, hoping all would pass by without notice.  
Madara walked forward, determined to reach his prize. His step faltered slightly as he swayed, he held one shoulder to stop the blood continueing to cascade down his arm. Deidara was going to pay for this, he would get his revenge. Small cuts covered his face and tears on his clothes were evident where falling debris had snatched at his clothing, trying to drag him underneath the cave in.  
Abseloutely no light was evident in the tunnels, large boulders blocked the exit and only Madara's sharingan helped him to move onward, slowly closing in on Deidara.

Deidara literaly felt a chill down his spine, his breath hollow as he tried to keep it calm and quiet. The only thing he couldnt make quiet was his heartbeat, which made his head swim as blood pumped throughout his body. Deidara's breath hitched as footsteps became evident in the quiet darkness, and deidara squeezed his eyes shut, praying for all of this to end soon.

Madara continued forward, his sharingan making the figure not far ahead of him glow slightly like embers of a dying fire. He smiled, continueing forward, his skin felt small tingles of electricity of excitement.  
A distant rumble sounded from deep within the cave, behind Madara. The caves were unstable, the disturbance of Deidara's explosions had disturbed the ancient structure. Something gave way in the support and suddenly more rocks tumbled down. Madara's steps forward continued, he was so close. His red eyes wide in a madness only one who had seen so much in his lifetime could experience. A jagged rock struck the Uchiha across the face, he cried out as blood poured down his chin. Clasping his face with both hands he bent over in pain, he couldn't see Deidara anymore. Blood and a black liquid dripped inbetween his fingers from his eyes. He shuddered and lifted his head. Darkness.  
The cave settled down and it was quiet again. The blinded Akatsuki stepped forward, slightly tripping on a fallen rock, then he stopped. He could hear something. Something so faint he couldn't identify it....then, something struck a chord in his memory. A sweet memory of when he walked through the inn door the night after the incident. The terrified heartbeat of Deidara.

Deidara nearly yelled himself at the sudden sound of pain near him, and jumped to his feet, feeling small specks of rubble land apon his shoulders. It was silent again, and deidara stared blindly ahead to the sound. Deidara swallowed, and clasped his beating chest. Looking down, deidara couldnt even see his own feet. he could feel them though, and deidara stepped backwards, wanting to silently move on again before something happened again. But this fantasy crashed as Deidara felta wisp of breath... right... behind..him.  
Like the delicate beating of butterfly wings Deidara's heartbeat was erratic, as though it was going to burst. Madara stood there, he couldn't see Deidara, but he knew it was him. That heartbeat, it was so very soft, like music to calm the cries of a motherless child. Deidara's heart seemed so very fragile; Madara's hand shook. No, he was still alive?! _I don't want to break that little heart, _someone whispered inside his head. Madara stood there, silent, the only sound was of the dripping blood onto the hard stone floor.  
Madara could not see it, but a small stone fell from the closed off exit, a ribbon of light struggled through the depths of the tunnel.  
His hand rose, fingers shaking as the wound on his arm ached terribly. Reaching out for Deidara, the bloody fingertips lightly touched the stock still akatsuki infront of him. His breath caught, as though a sob of defeat "s..senpai" he choked weakly.  
Deidara spun around at the word and felt a hand brush against his arm. Deidara didnt know how to react, and felt the hand feel its way up to his face. It was damp, and he thought it was sweat at first, only to smell the familliar scent of metallic stickyness. The hand eventually snaked its way around the shock-still Deidara and to the back of his head, and pulled him towards the controller. Deidara felt his 'captor' shake weakly as he brought him into a limp embrace, repeating the title again. Deidara stood there for a moment, before his own shaking hands found themselves around Tobi, and tightened his grip against the warm body of his partner.  
"...Tobi..." Deidara sobbed and buried his face into Tobi's chest. Deidara felt Tobi's arms tighten around him, and Deidara finally fully relaxed from the days toll on his body, Tobi's grip still holding him up.  
Little did Deidara know, as he began to fall into a light slumber, one of Tobi's eyes, although unfocused, was glowing red.


End file.
